MacScrewed by iPhoney initial pricing.

I get an eyestrain headache just thinking about watching any length of video on a screen that tiny.

 

I got the 160GB iPod Classic today. Walked into the store, and got one.
When I got home, and started to sync, it only holds 148.87GB after the program.
I started to sync the iPod at 2255 Hours.

I have to sync over 140.90GB of music and videos. This is not my entire catalog. That would be 156.14GB; I have left out the Radio Shows, The Bibles, and the Spoken Words. I will put them on the 30GB iPod I have. And then on the (soon to be empty) 80GB, I will just fill that with the music I love more then anything...

So, any guess as to how long this will take to sync?

I say about 6 hours.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Sep 8 2007, 08:35 AM) [snapback]508975[/snapback]</div>

Interestingly, I have been doing those exact things for three years already on my Qtek S100 phone, a device with approximately the same dimensions of an iphone. Even better, I can run houndreds of third-party programs on it, including some very useful stuff. And best of all, I can write my own programs for it in C#.

I like the iphone for its design, and I am thinking of buying one when they become simlock-free available. But it is by no means the revolutionary device that some people try to make it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PearlDriver @ Sep 8 2007, 08:01 PM) [snapback]509291[/snapback]</div>

If you're not a SMS maven, you can get an unlimited data plan for $20 - that also includes 200 messages. Cheap compared to many smartphone packages. Many are $30 or $40 a month for unlimited data.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(vtie @ Sep 9 2007, 04:25 AM) [snapback]509453[/snapback]</div>

Well, it's already been hacked with the information posted on the 'net, if you want to go that route. The problem is in addition to the software hack, it also has to be taken apart and a soldering iron needs to be used. Seems a little too involved for the novice to accomplish, but at least it's possible, anyway.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Sep 7 2007, 11:35 PM) [snapback]508975[/snapback]</div>

Not really sure, but I think my Nokia N800 is about the same size or smaller. And it has built-in WiFi. I don't need a monthly plan from Ma Bell. I just need a WiFi hotspot. And then it operates at WiFi speed, which is very fast if the local WiFi is working as it should. And many hotels and some coffee shops provide WiFi for free. At both Selkirk Mountain Experience and Purcell Mountain Lodge (see some of my pics at http://tinyurl.com/2e4nl6) the WiFi is free.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Sep 9 2007, 07:22 AM) [snapback]509424[/snapback]</div>

I think you'll find that it holds 148.87GiB after the program. I make that about 159.85GB, or 99.9% space available.

Your computer is probably measuring in gibibytes but calling them gigabytes.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Sep 9 2007, 09:54 AM) [snapback]509515[/snapback]</div>

I think the AT&T is only for the phone part. You can still connect o WiFi hotspots. I don't own one so I could be wrong. But I thought I read somewhere that you could still use it with a hotspot without activatig the phone part if you didn't want to buy AT&Ts plan.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Sep 8 2007, 06:05 PM) [snapback]509293[/snapback]</div>

Having a bad day?

I have expected better from you, especially after reading how you took offense to F8L's innocuous comments on another thread.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Sep 9 2007, 09:29 AM) [snapback]509564[/snapback]</div>

Wrong. The iPhone must be activated in order to be able to connect to WiFi hotspots.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(n8kwx @ Sep 8 2007, 05:47 PM) [snapback]509281[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PearlDriver @ Sep 8 2007, 06:01 PM) [snapback]509291[/snapback]</div>

Perhaps, if you are an existing AT&T Wireless customer you can add unlimited data for $20 to $40, depending on how many SMS text messages you get.

Fro the rest of us, it is between $60 and $100 for individual plans and $110 and $150 for two lines family plans (additional phones are $30 each), depending on the number of minutes.

I pay Sprint less than $100 for tiered plan with three phones including 1,500 text messages and unlimited data. That is at least $40 a month less than the best I could get for the iPhone.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(n8kwx @ Sep 8 2007, 05:47 PM) [snapback]509281[/snapback]</div>

GSM has 3G, albeit, not as fast as CDMA's, but the iPhone can only access the older and considerably slower (as in dial up speeds) EDGE network for data not the faster AT&T UMTS/HSDPA network.


Let me add another iPhone drawback. It must be returned to Apple in order to replace a battery. Not only does it mean that you are without the phone for a few days when the battery no longer holds a charge, but you cannot change batteries to use a back up charged spare battery and you cannot install a high capacity battery.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Sep 9 2007, 12:26 PM) [snapback]509612[/snapback]</div>

You ASSUMED. Making an nice person of U and ME. I simply requested you leave me out of it.

You assume a lot, making comments about people based on no evidence but your own prejudice.

My comments had nothing to do with your gender. Only your jumping to conclusions based on little evidence. Innocuous? Join Wildkow and Berman.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Sep 9 2007, 12:16 PM) [snapback]509552[/snapback]</div>

Nope.

I read it clearly as to what it is. And I can tell you, that I have about 8GB left. The new iPod tells you on a screen.

 

Here is a screen shot.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Sep 9 2007, 12:37 PM) [snapback]509615[/snapback]</div>

There is no perhaps. It is $20 a month. Unlimited data plan. 200 SMS messages. If you are a SMS maven you can pay more.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Sep 9 2007, 12:37 PM) [snapback]509615[/snapback]</div>

To compare Apples to Apples here (pun intended) you compare the price against AT&T. Not in addition to it!!! You are of course going to dump your old service.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Sep 9 2007, 12:37 PM) [snapback]509615[/snapback]</div>

Please tell me what your zip code is and which plan that you have. I checked Sprint's site and saw nothing even close to what you are describing.

 

I read a plan comparison in either MacWorld or MacLife. The AT&T plan was pretty good compared to all except I think Verizon. I'd have to go back and look. It's already been discussed why Apple rejected Verizon so I won't rehash.

What Apple should have done is offer both phones for $100.00 less than they initially did and NOT have them locked to a specific carrier. Then they wouldn't have to discount them for Christmas and they would have avoided a lot of the criticism. Maybe offer some sort of special deal for those agreeing to sign with AT&T for two years. But the exclusivity and locked phones. Bad move. And they could have made a bundle and continue to make a bundle at the $100.00 off initial price.

While I love a bargain and either the 4gig at $299 or the refurbished 8gig at $349 are great deals....I just can't justify a cell phone. Not even one that does everything the iPhone does. I'd use the WiFi and Safari on the phone probably more than calling.

So...still waiting for more gigs, unlocked phone and an external keyboard for apps. Because I'd want to use it like my PDA. (Which I really don't use much at all.) I'm a touch typist so I really want something close to a full size keyboard for input. Then it will become the smallest computer in the world to me. (I wonder if a bluetooth keyboard would work?)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rudiger @ Sep 9 2007, 03:34 PM) [snapback]509489[/snapback]</div>

There is even a software-only hack available now.

But I have some time to wait, since my Qtek S100 does almost all the things the iphone does (and some it doesn't), but only in a less fancy package...
In Belgium, it is illegal to sell bundled packages with a phone and a provider contract tied together. All phones sold here are forced by law to be simlock-free.
So, if Apple finally decides to enter that small market, they will have to offer it simlock-free.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Sep 10 2007, 12:48 AM) [snapback]509902[/snapback]</div>

I won't argue with anyone that unlocked would be nice.

But, in practical terms, that is not how phones are sold in the US. All carriers lock all of their phones. I know it sucks, I really wish the phone market was more like Europe.

In Europe you buy the phone. Yes, they are "full" price, but there is none of the "free" phone BS that we put up with here (multi-year contracts, locked phones). Then you go and select a service based on what you want. But our economy seems to be based on the "month-to-month"... Get a car, only $X99 a month... No money down...

Apple is the first phone maker to put a crack in this scheme by the US carriers. Remember, until the iPhone, the carriers not you were the "customers" of the phone makers. The carriers determined what software went on the phone, what features are provided. They are in control. That's why Verizon told Apple to go away. That's why most phones really suck.

Hopefully now that Apple was able to put a small crack in the market, the crack will widen over time and the carriers will eventually "lose" control. Everyone will win from this.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Sep 9 2007, 09:21 PM) [snapback]509680[/snapback]</div>

The iPod holds 160 gigabytes = 160,000,000,000 bytes.

When your computer says you have "148.87GB" available, it means 148.87 gibibytes = 148.87 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 bytes = 159,850,000,000 bytes or so.

You're using different units. Storage devices like hard drives have always used the standard decimal prefixes. Computers started using multiples of 1024 instead of 1000 for RAM, because it fitted the power-of-2 sizes of RAM devices. Then then exended that practice into measurements of file sizes and all other capacities. As they went from kilobytes to megabytes to gigabytes, the discrepancy between the 1024-based units of computer RAM and the 1000-based units of the rest of the world have gotten larger and larger.

What your computer calls a gigabyte has recently been given a proper name - a "gibibyte (GiB)" - and is 10% bigger than a real gigabyte. So because the computer is counting in 10% bigger units, you get a 9% smaller number.

To reduce confusion, Apple could say that the capacity is "160GB (149GiB)".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Sep 7 2007, 10:50 PM) [snapback]508889[/snapback]</div>

No, not flat... 230,000 in June, 260,000 in July, and this morning they announced 1,000,000 sold... seems to me that last month doubled on the previous month's sales.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Sep 8 2007, 08:01 PM) [snapback]509290[/snapback]</div>

8-gigs really is plenty, even for people who have 35gigs worth of music. As it stands, you have to plug the phone in once a week (or more often if you're using it heavily), and that plug might as well be attached to the USB port on your computer. iTunes makes it amazingly easy to set up randomized playlists from a subset of your music. You want a Classical playlist that'll last you 4 hours? no problem. a Rock one thats only 500MB? no problem. a gig of Jazz that you haven't listened to in the past month? no problem. And it'll re-randomize every time the phone syncs.

Now, it's true that i don't have all my pictures on my phone - that would be 10's of thousands. But really, who needs them there? I have a few hundred of the best pictures, and most of the more recent ones. Music wise, it's not as great as my iPod (40gig, battery life is pretty much dead on it so it lives in my car now), but i still have enough albums and playlists on it to get me through the work day just fine. And that's with enough room left over for 2-3 TV shows.